Funding cleared to upgrade Moran School safety

It appears Moran Elementary School will have flashing lights and new street striping to alert drivers to the presence of a school zone before school reopens this fall.

The Osceola Town Council on Monday night authorized spending $5,000, about half the cost of the project, splitting the total with the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corp. In bids sought by P-H-M, the low bid of $9,400 was submitted by Michiana Contracting of Plymouth for installation of two sets of lights, indicating the north and south boundaries of the school zone on Beech Road for traffic going in both directions.

The council also authorized Clerk-Treasurer Robert Mark to get a bid for restriping double lines down the middle of the street for the length of the school zone, with lettering indicating a school zone and lines indicating a crosswalk in front of the school.

Moran School is the only school in the P-H-M district without a lighted school- zone designation.

Election districts

The issue of election districts in the town was resurrected this week. The changes are being driven by the growth of some areas of town, especially on the near northwest side, where three new subdivisions are being built and the size of their district is much larger than the other two council districts in town. The last time district boundaries were changed was in 1992.

Mark Huffman, council president, outlined five choices the council has:

Require candidates to run from the district in which they live, but allow voters to vote for candidates in all races, which is the one Osceola currently uses. This is the one used by most Indiana towns, Mark said.

Candidates could run from the district in which they live, but voters would only vote for a candidate in their district.

Candidates would run from districts and at-large. Voters would vote on all at-large candidates plus one candidate from the district in which they live.

Candidates would run from districts and at-large, and voters would vote in all races.

Candidates run at-large, district lines are abolished, candidates may live anywhere in town and voters would vote in all races.

Council members said they would like comment from town residents before they make a decision. That decision also could include whether to expand the number of districts from the current three to five or seven.

No timeline was placed on making a decision except that a change must be made within the next two years.

Other discussion

Tall grass already has the attention of the town, with Ron Nicodemus seeking council direction in taking care of properties where grass and weeds have grown above the town limit of nine inches.

"It's very, very difficult to find the owner (of the property), and some of these properties have gone into foreclosure," said Nicodemus, who is a council member and the townÂ?s zoning administrator and code enforcer.

He threw the question out to the council: "Do we have the money to buy equipment and have our people do it, or do we hire it done?"

Mark said money for having grass cut would come from the general fund.

Asked whether the town could recoup its cost once the properties sold, Jamie Woods, town attorney, said he would look into it but noted South Bend does recover money it spends. No decision by the council was made, but Nicodemus said he would like to receive some direction by the next meeting.

The council tabled a suggestion by Nicodemus that fees for town inspections and permits be increased. "These fees don't begin to cover our costs," he told council members. The council indicated it wanted to study the suggestion before voting on it.

Heard from Phil Brown, police chief, who warned of the appearance of fake $10 and $20 bills already at local garage sales. He suggests residents having garage sales buy pens that detect counterfeit money. Brown said the pens are inexpensive and can be bought at many stores. "It's better than selling an item for a dollar and giving 19 in change. Then you're out 20 dollars," Brown said.